Eric Schultz part of ‘reloading’ White House team

ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE — When Eric Schultz gaggles with reporters Wednesday as President Barack Obama flies from San Francisco to Los Angeles, it will be a dress rehearsal for a new role: stepping behind the White House podium as the new principal deputy press secretary.

The promotion, which makes Schultz the No. 2 in the White House press operation, puts him in the position that Josh Earnest held before moving up himself to be the new White House press secretary.

Earnest, a month into the top job, is bringing a lot of new blood into a team that will be confronted with the heightened attention around the midterms and the final two years of the Obama presidency.

“Like other successful organizations, we’re not rebuilding, we’re reloading,” Earnest said. “I’m confident they’ll reinvigorate our White House team with the talent and professionalism that has been the hallmark of our operation for years and will be critical to our success as we tackle the important challenges ahead.”

Schultz led crisis-messaging strategy for the White House on scandals including the Fast and Furious gun-walking operations, the Solyndra bankruptcy and GSA overspending, but in recent months, he has added running sensitive personnel announcements, transparency issues and rapid response to his portfolio.

In a White House that’s been trying to ramp up its political involvement ahead of November, Schultz, like several of the new hires, has a campaign background, with time spent at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and for Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), whose alumni have been doing particularly well in this White House of late.

Already in place as of Monday as assistant press secretary is Frank Benenati, another reelection campaign hire — he was national regional press secretary for states including Ohio and Virginia — who came over from the Office of Management and Budget, which he joined after leaving Precision Strategies, the firm founded by former Obama campaign vets Stephanie Cutter, Jen O’Malley Dillon and Teddy Goff.

He’s also got a stint at the Democratic National Committee on his résumé.

Moving over as deputy press secretary will be Jen Friedman, who just joined the White House in April to work with National Economic Council director Jeff Zients. She’s already been in a number of positions in the administration, including jobs at Treasury, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, and Commerce, and as a senior adviser for communications to Obama’s reelection campaign. She’ll take the other office just off the briefing room, next to Schultz.

Friedman will start Aug. 4, as will the other new assistant press secretary, Brandi Hoffine, who’s moving over from the Treasury press office. But before joining the administration, she worked on several campaigns — communications director for Tim Kaine’s (D-Va.) Senate win in 2012, and in both press and research for the Democratic National Committee.

They join a team that’s already been growing, after a long period waiting for reinforcements. Just in the past month, Shawn Turner — a former spokesman for the director of national intelligence — became deputy press secretary, handling much of the national security and immigration portfolios.

But not every face is new: Even as the attention to Obamacare has faded somewhat, Jessica Santillo, who’s been the press office’s top health care spokeswoman for a year, is remaining in place.

CORRECTION: A previous version had incorrect information for the Precision Strategies founders.